


i think it's time for you to find me

by narryblossom



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Timers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 02:35:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13285125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narryblossom/pseuds/narryblossom
Summary: The timer on your wrist goes off when you meet your soulmate for the first time, but as Niall and Harry find out, sometimes you have to grow up first.





	i think it's time for you to find me

**Author's Note:**

> heeeeeeeeey i've not written in...seven months. [here i am on tumblr come say hi](http://narryblossom.tumblr.com/post/169375116060/i-think-its-time-for-you-to-find-me-27k-the)

Niall was shy about his timer when he was young.

All of his friends had months or weeks until they were supposed to meet their soulmate, but the blue numbers ticking down on Niall’s left wrist almost didn’t have enough room to count the years until Niall’s would arrive. He started wearing bracelets and watches to cover it as often as possible so people wouldn’t comment on how much time he had left.

“There’s no right time for your soulmate to come into your life,” his mam used to tell him. “Some people meet them when they’re young, and some people meet them a bit later, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less wonderful.”

If Niall were to think about it now, he would feel awful for how he reacted to that. Both of his parents have red numbers scarred on their wrists forever--they ignored their timers when they were young and found each other instead. Niall was grateful because he came out of it, but he lashed out anyway.

“Why didn’t _you_ wait for your soulmate, then? You and Da aren’t even together anymore! You couldn’t wait for your soulmate because you didn’t like how long your timer was.”

He knew he shouldn’t have mentioned it immediately after he said it, but he couldn’t take it back. His mam left the room and didn’t talk to him for the rest of the night--he assumed she didn’t say anything about it because she didn’t want to start a fight, but in a way, he was right. His parents both had timers as long as his, meaning they wouldn’t find their soulmates until they were well into their 20s, but when they met each other they decided they were done waiting. They got their timers turned off. His mam would forever have over five years left on her arm in red, and his da had two. It wasn’t fair for them to tell him there was nothing wrong with waiting when clearly to them, there was.

Niall grew to be patient, though. He decided later that he would rather wait for his timer to run out than to take someone else’s soulmate away by settling on his own accord.

Niall was 16 by the time he finally met someone with a timer as long as his. In fact, it was... _exactly_ as long as his.

“That’s so weird!” Louis said as his eyes flicked between the timers on Harry’s and Niall’s wrists. “You have the same exact time. And it’s only a year longer than mine! That means I’m gonna meet my soulmate in 2017 and you’re both going to meet yours in 2018.”

“2018?” Niall asked.

“Maybe we’re gonna meet them together,” Harry said as a grin spread across his face. “Maybe One Direction is gonna get super famous and we’re gonna meet supermodel best friends in Los Angeles.”

Louis let go of their wrists and went to check their other two bandmates’ wrists--Liam’s timer only had a year left, and Zayn’s had five.

Niall felt better knowing there were other people who were still leagues away from their soulmate, and thanks to Harry, he learned he could still have some relationships without messing up his timer.

It started off with girls, and too many to count, really. Niall stayed as quiet as he could about it because he saw what happened to Harry whenever he went out with someone, and when Louis started dating Eleanor (thanks to Harry noticing that _their_ timers were the same), Niall saw just how mean some of his new fans could be. He didn’t want anyone to have to put up with that because of him, so he didn’t have many long-standing relationships throughout One Direction...besides Harry.

It wasn’t a real relationship, though. It was never more than friends with benefits. Harry got Louis and Eleanor together because their timers were the same, and he started trying to convince Niall that maybe there was something special between people who were on the same time.

He crawled into Niall’s bed more nights than either of them could remember.

“I think I might love you,” Harry mumbled into Niall’s neck. They were 18 the first time Harry said it.

“Nice one, H,” Niall responded, rolling his eyes, “so funny.”

“I’m serious. I think I might.”

Niall turned away from Harry to turn the bedside lamp off.

“Go to sleep. We gotta get up early tomorrow.”

Niall tried his hardest to ignore Harry when he burrowed closer into Niall’s side.

“You’re my best friend.”

“You too, H.”

Harry was already out the door by the time Niall finally rolled out of bed the next morning. They didn’t say anything else about love until Harry felt like saying it again. It never struck Niall as meaning anything, though. Harry slept with whoever he felt like, whenever he felt the need. Niall was one of Harry’s rotating favorites at best, and Niall was doing the exact same thing. It was easy that way. They could do whatever with whoever and no one got hurt.

Well, in _theory_ no one would get hurt. It didn’t work out like that, though.

When Harry suggested that One Direction go on hiatus when they were recording their fourth album, Niall knew something bad was going to happen--not only between them, but between them as a band and the world against them. Their fans would be devastated, and even though the plan was to relax on their time off, Niall knew everyone would go their separate ways. He and Harry were the closest of the five of them; he knew everything from the way that Harry mumbled in his sleep to the fact that Harry had been wanting to make his own album on the side of One Direction. Shit, Niall even looked over some of the songs Harry was keeping on the side for himself. They were full of love and wonder and Niall always noticed when they were about him, but he never brought it up, just pretended he wasn't falling for Harry and told him they were good songs.

Niall wished he had a timer to tell him when his dreams were going to fall around his ears.

x

After One Direction, all the boys started doing their own things. Niall invited them out, but none of them were in the same place much anymore. He called them on holidays and they were plenty excited to hear from him, but things weren’t the same.

Harry was always a private person--Niall knew that, but he never expected there’d be a time so soon when he wouldn’t see him for an entire year.

Liam wasn’t different, though. Neither was Louis. In fact, it was Louis he heard from the most as his timer started winding down. He started to think Louis was going to become involved in him finding his soulmate somehow (and looking back, he was right).

“Lad, I’ve got something amazing to tell you.”

Normally Niall wouldn’t answer phone calls past 10pm, but he happened to be awake anyway, and knowing Louis, he would have kept calling until Niall answered.

“What is it?” Niall almost didn’t have enough time to get the question out before Louis was shouting over him.

“I met my soulmate today, and holy shit I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

“That’s amazing, Tommo! When do I get to meet them?”

“Eleanor! It’s bloody Eleanor! I don’t know how in the _fuck_ this happened, but it’s her, it’s always been her!”

Niall almost didn’t believe him. How could your soulmate be someone you already _knew?_

“Are you...how did that work? Are you sure it’s not a clone or something?”

“I’m absolutely sure, mate.” Louis chuckled into the phone. “I’d just been missing her a lot lately so I called her up. She was in LA, I was in LA, and… I watched the number drop. As soon as I heard her call my name, the countdown stopped.”

“That’s amazing, Louis. There was something special about you two, I always hoped it would work out.”

“You know what this means, though, don’t you? About you and Harry?”

Niall instinctively drew his hand up to his mouth to chew on the side of his thumb.

“No,” he mumbled. “What’s it mean?”

“It means that you guys could be soulmates after all. I think I needed to grow up before I was ready for Eleanor. I did some stupid shit, but I found my way back to her. Maybe you two needed to do some growing up. Your clocks are in sync just like ours were, that’s gotta mean something.”

“I hate to be a downer, but it could just mean we’ll meet our partners at the same time. I’m sure out of everyone in the world, there are hundreds of people who are going to meet their soulmates the same time me and Harry meet ours.”

“I’m sorry, mate.” Louis sounded careful as he backed out of the situation, keeping his voice level so he didn’t set Niall off. People always thought of him as the instigator, but as much as he liked to say whatever was on his mind, he always knew when it was time to stop.

“I’m really happy for you, Tommo. We’ll see what happens to me later. Go on, don’t you have lots of catching up to do?”

Niall wanted to be able to say that he didn’t think about what Louis told him after that, but truth be told, it was all he could think about any time he looked down at his wrist. So, like when he was young, he started wearing a watch so he could keep track of a different time.

Niall talked to Harry a few times after that conversation with Louis, and he thought that it might have been a sign that Harry wasn’t his soulmate. Wouldn’t the timers go off already if it was him? They’d done their growing, what more could another year do?

(A lot, apparently.)

Louis had thrown a party for the New Year every year that Niall had known him, so it was no surprise when he got an invitation via group-text just after Christmas 2017.

“Party at my place--LA this year,” the message read, followed by Louis’s address and a time. Niall put it in his calendar so he wouldn’t forget, and then just for fun, he decided to glance through everyone in the group. He didn’t recognize a lot of the phone numbers--they were probably Louis’s family or mates from back home--but he did recognize Harry’s among a few others.

Niall took a cautious glance beneath his watch--there were 10 days until he met his soulmate, and taking a glance back at his calendar and at Louis’s message to make sure he didn’t get the date wrong, 10 days until he met his other half.

“Any chance you can change the date?” Niall asked Louis over the phone later that night. He laughed to make sure Louis knew it was a joke, but they both could hear the nerves in his voice.

“Not a chance, Nialler! By the way, I absolutely _didn’t_ ask Harry what day your timers were going off. The 4th just seemed to be a good day to throw a party.”

“It’s a _Tuesday_ , Louis. How is that a good day?”

“If you don’t like it, don’t come. I’m sure you’ll be finding a special someone regardless.”

Niall wouldn’t exactly say January 4th was a good day for him. He woke up at 7am completely and utterly unable to fall back asleep. His dreams were of Harry--both of him being The One, and of him rejecting Niall. He couldn’t really eat anything that day, either, and time seemed to be going _so slow_.

When it was finally time to get ready for Louis’s party, Niall didn’t bother wearing a watch. He knew he would fidget with it the whole time trying to see exactly how many minutes and seconds were left.

His leg bounced in anticipation the whole car ride to Louis’s, and when we went to ring the doorbell, he almost missed because his hands were shaking.

“Lad!” Louis cheered when he opened the door. “Come in, come in. Liam’s here somewhere--said Zayn was _gonna_ come with him, but something came up. There’s drinks in the kitchen and food basically everywhere, make yourself at home, you know the drill.”

“Thanks,” Niall said, shrugging off his jacket. “Is, uh…”

Louis smirked, knowing exactly what Niall was going to ask despite his voice trailing away.

“Not yet, but he’ll be here. Told me himself.”

“Great,” Niall nodded, starting towards the kitchen, “maybe I won't feel like throwing up by the time he gets here.”

“This is supposed to be a fun day, Nialler,” Louis called after him. “Try not to puke on his shoes!”

Niall downed a full cup of whatever mixed drink Lottie served him before ten minutes had even passed. There was still over half an hour left and every second felt like an eternity. All he could think about was Harry. They’d seen each other on screens and in passing maybe a handful of times since One Direction went on hiatus--would things be different? What if they met two other people at the party tonight and Niall had been psyching himself out for nothing? At this point, he didn’t doubt at all that he loved Harry, but he was terrified that something bad was going to happen.

Niall eventually seemed to get lost in a conversation with one of Louis’s friends about a team they both liked, and he only realized there was a minute left when his ears started ringing. It felt like the room around him became sluggish whereas he was hyper aware of the sound of the front door opening.

Niall excused himself and turned on his heel towards the door--he couldn’t see it from the room he was in, so he started to make his way through the crowd, bumping into and apologizing to anyone in his way.

“Niall,” someone called after him, but he was on a mission.

With ten seconds left, Niall rounded the corner to the door. A nice, _expensive_ coat hung overtop Niall’s in the hall. Niall could almost picture Harry as he’d taken it off.

Niall glanced down at his timer and saw three seconds remaining, then two, then as it flicked to one, Niall heard someone shuffle into the entryway and it...wasn’t Harry.

“Sorry to scare you, mate,” the guy chuckled, reaching around Niall for the front door handle. As Niall stumbled backward to let the man pass, he bumped into someone.

“There you are,” Harry said. Before Niall even turned around, he could _hear_ the grin plastered on his face. “I was wondering where I could find you. Turns out I’ve just gotta walk in circles and there you’ll be.”

“Are you-- has your--?” Niall looked at Harry then back down at his wrist--the numbers had faded out already and instead, the date was left in small, black script.

Harry drew the sleeve of his sweater up his right arm just enough to expose the date on his wrist.

“Same handwriting,” Harry noted. “Yours, innit?”

“Yeah, it is.” Niall’s voice was breathy and full of wonder. When it finally sank in that this was really happening, he looked at Harry’s face once more. He was still smiling, and this time it became contagious.

“It’s you.”

“It’s _you_.” Harry echoed, holding his arms apart. Niall slotted into them and held tight. “Did you ever think it would be me?”

“Honestly? Not until Louis told me that Eleanor was his even after they’d broken up the first time. I didn’t even know it was possible to meet your soulmate before your timers went off.”

“I didn’t either, but since we’re being honest, I always hoped it would be you. I tried to tell you but I didn’t know how, just kept saying ‘think I might love you.’ I know I definitely loved you then and I love you now. I’d like to be yours if you’ll have me.”

“You know? I think I knew that,” Niall chuckled, backing away just enough to raise his face to Harry’s. “I know it now for sure, and I know I love you, too, H.”

(“Are we not mentioning how you didn’t call me for a whole year?” Niall asked after they kissed.

“I wanted you to be my soulmate,” Harry whined, “I was trying to be patient.”)


End file.
